


A Mismatched Pair

by OneEntireBee



Category: Original Work
Genre: Arachnophobia, Giant Spiders, Huddling For Warmth, Mecha, Other, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-08 07:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14688936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneEntireBee/pseuds/OneEntireBee
Summary: Private Jackson was offered a deal: He got a promotion so long as he was willing to work with an outdated model of mech.Nobody told him "outdated" was code for "spider."





	A Mismatched Pair

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Artemis1000](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis1000/gifts).



“Can I get by, big guy?”

The ten foot tall spider blocking the entrance to the men’s bathroom scuttled politely to the side.

“Private Lee,” it said, voice synthesizer buzzing, “Could you please perform a check on the well being of Pilot Jackson? He has remained in the bathroom for a time far beyond the typical human requirement for disposing of waste and/or tending to personal grooming needs. I am concerned.”

A strained _“I’m fine!”_ came from the bathroom.

Lee patted the thick metal of one of the spider’s legs. “I’ll take care of him, Tal.”

“Thank you, Private Lee.” Tal hunkered down on its frontmost pair of legs, its abdomen swiveling restlessly.

Lee pushed the bathroom door open. The last stall was occupied. 

“Having trouble in there?” Lee teased.

“Haha. Funny.” Jackson unlocked the stall door and let it fall open. He was sitting on the toilet fully clothed, looking pale. “Any chance the giant fucking spider out there is gone?”

“Aw, come on, Jackson. Tal’s not that bad.”

“What part of _giant fucking spider_ isn’t that bad?”

“Fucking isn’t that bad if you ask me.”

Jackson’s head fell into his hands. He made a noise that fell somewhere between a groan and a whine.

“Man, why did you accept the partnership in the first place if you knew you were gonna be like this?”

Jackson got up and went to the sink, splashing some water on his face. “It was my only chance to move up the ranks. No offense, but I don’t want to be stuck as a private for another two years.” He grabbed a paper towel and scrubbed his face. “I knew they weren’t going to give me one of the good mechs. I just didn’t know that ‘the old model we keep around’ meant _that_.” 

Lee crossed his arms. “How far up your ass has your head been for the last four months? They’ve been scrapping all the old prototypes one by one. Tal’s the last one left.”

Tal’s name was an indicator of its age. Now, the process for creating mechs was streamlined and automated. The shiny new robots had names like S MODEL ALPHA 4.01. Back when there had been a much smaller team, engineers named their projects after family members or lovers. Tal had probably been named after some tech’s grandkid.

“Besides,” Lee said, “You’re basically the big guy’s last hope.”

Jackson turned to him. “What?”

Lee’s palm whacked his forehead. “You seriously need to pay attention to gossip around the base. Word’s spread that the higher ups are using this partnership as a test to see if Tal’s worth keeping around. Tal was the most advanced mech made before the big program overhaul, but they’re still considering putting it out of commission. You think the commander just gave you a promotion out of the goodness of his heart? You’re Tal’s only chance to prove itself.”

Jackson crumpled the paper towel in his hand. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.” Lee gripped Jackson’s shoulder. “Look, man. I know your thing about spiders.” It was hard not to know. The two had been roommates since Lee had enlisted, and only five days into the room assignment Jackson had begged him to squish a daddy long legs on the wall. “But all that’s on the line for you is a promotion. For Tal, its life is riding on how well you get along with it.”

Jackson threw the paper towel away and tried to gather his composure. “I’ll try.”

Lee patted his back. “Atta boy.”

As soon as Jackson exited the bathroom Tal jumped up to its full height, wiggling in excitement. 

“Oh, oh no, don’t do that, please,” Jackson begged with a wince.

“Pilot Jackson, are you in good health?” Tal’s beady black eyes focused on its pilot, doing a scan on his body.

“Just fine, buddy.”

Jackson took a lot of deep breaths and made himself look at Tal head on, like a respectable pilot who wasn’t scared shitless of his mech. If Tal had been one of the new models, they wouldn’t have a problem. The new mechs weren’t designed to realistically resemble the creatures they were modeled after. Jackson had seen some of the new spider models. They were brightly colored and looked more cool than creepy. But Tal had been built in a time before cloaking devices were universal technology, and camouflage was a priority. Mechs needed to blend in with their surroundings for infiltration missions on alien planets. Which meant that Tal looked like a real-life giant alien spider. Which meant it was completely, utterly terrifying.

“Commander Moore has asked for us to report to the hangar for our mission assignment. Would you like me to escort you?” Tal popped the hatch on top of its cephalothorax open.

“Thanks but no thanks.”

Tal’s pedipalps drooped. “Are you sure? It would be significantly quicker than your walking speed.”

“I’m sure. Walking is nice. Relaxing.”

And so he walked through the base, trying not to stare at the spider scuttling dutifully at his side. Other pilots who’d already been promoted and proved themselves in combat passed him with their significantly cooler looking mechs, either ignoring him, saying hello, or just staring at Tal. Jackson wondered if any of them hated spiders as much as he did.

Hated was a harsh word. The spiders didn’t mean him any harm. They were still scary little fucks. Or scary big fucks, in the case of his new partner.

Lucky for Jackson, his and Tal’s first mission wasn’t anything strenuous. They were being sent to planet Alpha 7-39 to retrieve sediment samples for the lab’s terraforming tests. Jackson suspected someone on the board was going easy on them.

The dropship dumped them off at Alpha 7-39 without trouble. The planet was small and showed no signs of sentient fauna, likely due to its wintry climate. Jackson had suited up with winter gear and he was still freezing as the frigid wind cut through his coat. Tal noticed his shivering as they scaled a hill, and immediately Jackson found himself enveloped by a giant spider’s attempt at a hug. He stopped breathing, and not from the atmosphere’s low oxygen levels. 

“Pilot Jackson,” Tal said, “Your body temperature is severely low. I am concerned. Allow me to warm you.”

Jackson made the mistake of looking up. Tal’s shiny black chelicherae were hanging right over his head. 

“I’m just a little chilly,” he said as fast as he could get the words out of his mouth, shoving Tal’s segmented arms away. 

“Pilot. . .”

“I’ll be fine,” Jackson insisted. “Now where were those rocks supposed to be?”

Tal did its best to guard him from the breeze as they found the extraction spot. Jackson started to feel guilty. The mech was just trying to help. It wasn’t Tal’s fault it was a horrific figure from his nightmares.

Jackson had only collected about half of the things he was supposed to when the a gust of wind tore through violent enough to knock him off his feet and send him rolling down an incline.

“Pilot!”

Tal cleared the whole length of the hill in one powerful jump. It lowered its body to the snow slick ground and stopped Jackson’s slide. 

Jackson reoriented himself and sat up, clinging to one of Tal’s arms. “Whoa. Thanks, buddy.”

The whirr of pneumatics announced Tal’s hatch opening. “Pilot Jackson, I insist you take shelter. The weather conditions are growing hostile to a unprecedented degree.”

Jackson’s teeth chattered as he said, “I don’t know. . .”

He yelped as claws gripped his waist and yanked him into the air. Tal tossed him through the hatch. He landed in a graceless heap on the pilot’s chair inside.

“I apologize, Pilot Jackson,” Tal said, its hatch clanging shut above him. “My core programming does not allow me to knowingly and willingly put you in danger.”

Jackson grumbled something incoherent, but his irritation melted away as he got settled inside Tal’s control pod. Tal had its heating systems on full blast, restoring feeling to his numb limbs. As he looked at the gathering snowstorm through the monitor, he realized something. If he was _inside_ Tal, he couldn’t even tell that he was in a spider.

He got comfortable in the padded chair and loosened his goggles as Tal scurried across the landscape and took shelter under a rocky overhang. Maybe he could get used to this arrangement after all.

“Are my internal components producing sufficient heat, Pilot?” Tal asked, hunkering down in the snow.

“Just fine, buddy. Just fine.”


End file.
